Integration of modern nanoelectronic technology with the potent molecular machines of living organisms offers a pathway to advanced modalities for chemical sensing, high throughput screening of ligand binding, and other applications. Despite their vital roles in living systems, and the impressive range of functionalities that they exhibit (including energy harvesting and ultrasensitive chemical detection), there has been little progress in the field of nanoelectronic integration of membrane proteins and other amphiphilic species.
Efforts in this direction have encountered a number of difficulties associated with the hydrophobic nature of the transmembrane domains of membrane proteins, which complicates the proteins' expression, purification, solubilization, and integration with nanoelectronic systems, particularly in an ambient environment. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for devices that take advantage of the sensitivity of membrane proteins. There is also a need in the art for related methods of fabricating and using such devices.